


might tell you tonight

by knightswatch



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crime Fighting, F/F, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:12:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightswatch/pseuds/knightswatch
Summary: There's a girl who's been coming into Gates on most of Piper's midnight shifts, and she's starting to really worry.
To start with, no one should be enough of a regular that even Piper remembers their order (mocha, two creams and two sugars, with a doubleshot). Piper herself is rarely awake by the time three am rolls around, shifting thick rimmed glasses up her nose with her shoulder every time she goes to make a coffee, red hair tied up into a thick ponytail at the base of her skull.
It's customary to ask for a name to put on the cup, but at this point Piper just scribbles down 'Mechalass' on the white paper cup and goes to work making the coffee. It's a strange name to be so used to writing down, she supposes.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selenay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selenay/gifts).



There's a girl who's been coming into Gates on most of Piper's midnight shifts, and she's starting to really worry.

To start with, no one should be enough of a regular that even Piper remembers their order (mocha, two creams and two sugars, with a doubleshot). Piper herself is rarely awake by the time three am rolls around, shifting thick rimmed glasses up her nose with her shoulder every time she goes to make a coffee, red hair tied up into a thick ponytail at the base of her skull.

It's customary to ask for a name to put on the cup, but at this point Piper just scribbles down 'Mechalass' on the white paper cup and goes to work making the coffee. It's a strange name to be so used to writing down, she supposes.

Then, Mechalass herself is hardly the standard customer. She's leaning on the end of the counter with a smile on her face that no one should have while they've also got a shiner growing darker and darker on one of their cheeks and a split lip. Her face is covered from forehead to cheeks by a black mask with cut-outs for her eyes.

Piper's best guess is that Mechalass is Asian, judging from her hair and the slightly sallow tone of her skin. The rest of her outfit is hardly fancy—a black hoodie with a white zipper up the front and jeans with holes in them, topped off by a pair of converse, black as well and looking more beat up by the day.

“Has it been busy?” Mechalass can rarely resist making conversation while Piper works, and Piper has no idea how she manages to be so cheery in the middle of the night.

Behind the counter, Piper has a textbook and her notes spread out, sitting next to her cellphone. She glances at them, shaking a canister of whipped cream in her left hand and shrugging her shoulders. “You're the first person I've seen in like, 45 minutes.”

Mechalass nods her head, wiping her lip on the sleeve of her hoodie, smothering a laugh into it. “Well, I must be the highlight of your evening then.”

Piper rolls her eyes, and if she were ever accused of piling just a little extra whipped cream onto the coffee before carefully clicking the cap onto it, she'd deny it to her death. “What makes you think that?”

“I'm the most interesting customer you get,” Mechalass almost grabs the coffee without putting a sleeve on it, and Piper holds one out for her before she can burn her hand on top of her other injuries.

It's true that she doesn't see any superheros quite so regularly as she sees Mechalass. The Student Heroics Association does have quite a presence on Cornell's campus, especially with the rise of school related stress driving students to super-villainy.

But none of them pop into Gates past midnight and order the same coffee every night, no matter what shape they're in. Still, Piper plays coy about it, worrying her tongue against the dark ring through her lower lip like she's thinking hard about who her most interesting customer is.

“I guess, but there's a Physics professor who comes in wearing cool bowties all the time.” She hums, and Mechalass gives her an appraising look before she scoffs.

“I don't rank any higher than a _bowtie_?” She groans dramatically, and Piper shrugs her shoulders, walking back over to her book.

Technically, she's not supposed to be studying, and certainly not while a customer is still here. Mechalass leans on the other side of the counter, peeking at the Engineering text that Piper has spread out in front of her. There are wet spots on the shoulders of her hoodie, and Piper glances out the front window to find that it's indeed raining out.

“So,” she asks, turning after a moment and filling a transparent cup up with ice. “What kind of terrible crime did you prevent tonight?”

Piper is glad for the fact that Mechalass isn't the type just to grab her coffee and dash out the door again. She lingers, always easy to talk to despite the late hour. Piper takes the hot coffee and sets it to the side, trading the cup of ice instead.

Mechalass looks at it for a moment before smiling sheepishly, pressing it to the bruise on her cheek. “A couple guys trying to break into one of the labs.”

“Stealing plutonium?” Piper smiles, leaning her elbows on her side of the counter. Mechalass laughs, and even with the dark mask, Piper can see the way it makes her eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Something like that.” She rolls the cup slightly, hissing as she presses it to her lip as well.

There's plenty that Piper doesn't know about what it's like to be a hero. Really, past the goodhearted jokes and the promises that Mechalass is 'the greatest hero on this campus', she doesn't talk much about the gritty details of her job.

The secrecy is probably for the best, and Piper knows that the SHA doesn't allow their members to share their identities with anyone. Mechalass sets the ice on the counter only to take another long sip of her coffee, eyes closing as she tilts her head back.

Mechalass, and her coffee habit, have starred in Piper's late night snapchat stories more than once, but when she grabs her phone to take a quick picture, the screen refuses to light.

She groans, tapping the button repeatedly, only getting more frustrated with it. It's an old smart phone, and she hardly has the money in hand to even think about buying a new one. Her budget for living depends entirely on her coffee shop job, and it's not as if Gimme! Coffee is paying her in gold bars.

Mechalass sets the cup down, the paper clicking softly against the counter, reaching a hand out toward Piper's phone. “Not working?”

Piper shakes her head, hitting the button once more in frustration. It refuses to cooperate, and Mechalass chuckles softly from the back of her throat. “Lemme take a look at it.”

She eyes Mechalass warily for a moment before handing it over. It's not as if she suspects that a student hero is going to steal her shitty cellphone from here, but she isn't too keen on sharing all the details of her life either.

Technically speaking, heroes aren't considered vigilantes. The Cornell University police deputizes them for the purpose of catching criminals who are similarly… super. They're meant to catch and incapacitate culprits before turning them over to the police. They even have special ID cards to mark them as deputized members of the SHA, not weirdo's in bad costumes mucking about at crime scenes.

Mechalass cradles the phone in her hand for a moment, wrinkling her nose slightly as she focuses on it. There's a charge in the air that makes the slight hairs on Piper's arms stand on ends, like the current before a lightning storm begins, and the screen of her phone lights up.

Grinning as she hands it over, Mechalass nods her head at the phone slightly. “I fixed it—you shouldn't have any more problems for awhile.”

“You fixed it?” Piper blinks, taking it and swiping her thumb over the screen to unlock it. It seems to be faster than she ever remembers, even. When she looks up, Mechalass is rubbing the back of her neck with a laugh.

“That's what I do! I'm good with… technology and stuff.” She shrugs one shoulder, taking another sip of her coffee.

Well, the ridiculous moniker makes more sense, at least.

Piper nods her head, watching Mechalass drink her doubleshot with that same niggling sense of concern that always possesses her when her wayward hero friend comes in for coffee. 

“Thanks for that.” She tucks her phone into her pocket, forgetting that she was going to do anything with it to begin with. Mechalass grins at her, nodding eagerly.

“Sure! It's the least I can do for such a pretty lady.” She laughs, but there's something about it that feels just a touch too sincere for Mecha's usual brand of over the top flirting. “Besides, you've got my order memorized and everything.”

Piper fails to see how that little fact relates, so she shrugs her shoulders and turns to clean a carafe instead. Mecha hangs around, alternating drinking her coffee and pressing the ice to the face.

By the time she finishes and bids a reluctant goodbye, Piper is glad to see that the bruise on her cheek has shrunk, at least a little.

* * * 

Charlie Chiu would like a lot of things out of her life.

The first is to abolish all classes scheduled before ten o'clock in the morning. The second is an endless supply of coffee (and for her favorite redheaded barista to be the one serving it).

The third, if she were operating off of genie rules and giving herself only three wishes would be to make her parents see just how badly she wants to spend her life being a hero.

A real one, not just a member of the SHA sent to do jobs that the police are too scared of. They're the most minor of the minor leagues, and Charlie wants more out of her life than that.

She wants to be a _real_ hero. A professional one, part of a genuine league that does things like save the world and stop honest to goodness super villains.

Mechalass could do it, she's pretty sure. Cyber crime is becoming more and more an issue, and hackers stand no chance against a true technopath like herself.

But, because she can't make them see the value in their eldest daughter becoming a glorified police officer (or worse, a publicly recognized _freak_ ), Charlie is instead studying for her Masters in Engineering.

Who knows what she'll do once that's done. She tries not to think too hard about it.

Besides, all this thinking is distracting her from her real mission; sleeping through her graduate skills seminar.

The hoodie draped over her shoulders is not the same one she wore the night before as Mechalass. They aren't supposed to wear any of their hero costume outside of official business, though Charlie will be damned if she's going to buy new shoes just for that.

She has to be careful—Mechalass is a secret even from her family. Most students have their families on the list of people they're approved to notify of their… extracurricular activities, in case something should happen to them in the line of duty.

Charlie can't think of anyone that she'd like to inform less than her parents. Her two little brothers maybe. They would think it's cool, at least.

Graduate skills seems pretty much useless to her anyway, and so Charlie doesn't feel too bad about laying her hand down on her arms.

Two rows in front of her sits the cute barista herself. She's far from sleeping—her pen is scribbling furiously in her notebook, and her other hand is touching her lips lightly, worrying the piercing there like she always does when she thinks.

Charlie almost groans, pressing her face harder into her arms and scrubbing it against the fabric of her hoodie.

It's becoming a problem, her double life.

She hasn't quite figured out how flirting with girls is supposed to work when she doesn't have the mask and the alluring mystery of her secret identity to back her up. It's easier, she finds, to be confident in herself as Mechalass. She's braver, stronger, she can take on the world that way.

Charlie Chiu has never been good at flirting, especially not with girls.

Especially not with girls who are intimidatingly smart, and who work late hours brewing the best damn coffee that Charlie has ever had, and who look at her with a mixture of warmth and amusement, sometimes.

She's especially not good at flirting with girls who are Piper Raines.  
Mechalass is good at it, though. She makes Piper laugh and fixes her phone.

Lately, Charlie has been struggling to find a balance between those two things—the rush of confidence that she feels beneath the mask and loose clothes that she wears as Mechalass, and the way that just being Charlie makes her feel awkward and strange. 

She wants to feel like Mechalass all the time, and even now she has the mask in her bag, even though she isn't the hero on call today.

The rest of her class is spent in half of a doze, wiggling out of her seat once people start shuffling papers and putting their things away.

From there, it's a short bus ride over to Rusty, the hall that holds the secret office of the SHA.

It's hardly a bat-cave, as much as Charlie would like for them to have something so cool. Instead, it's a small lounge marked as 'Storage' on the third floor that has a few nice couches and a TV.

When she gets there, there's a lump of sleeping boy on one of the couches, hood pulled down over his face and bright red mask still on.

Daniel Bruling, also known as Warhead, nuzzles his face further into his arm when Charlie closes the door loudly behind her. He sits up slowly, pushing the hood off of his curly mess of hair and yawning widely.

In general, Charlie gets a kick of hanging out with Danny. He's quiet, for the most part, with sleepy eyes and an ability to explode things with such violence you would never guess from his deadpan jokes and slow grins. He stretches his arms over his head with a groan, looking at Charlie before frowning slightly. “You're not on today.”

“So?” She asks, flopping down on one of the other couches and stretching her legs out. Danny chuckles and shrugs his shoulders, turning the TV on. She would hardly be the only person to use the SHA lounge to study, or nap, or just avoid shitty roommates. They aren't technically supposed to treat it this way; it's a meeting space and the spot where whoever is on call can hang out.

But it's also become something of a home base. It's more than just a convenient hangout for them; it's someplace safe. It's a refreshment after a life spent in hiding, a life in which they're _still_ hiding. Heroes or not, it's a hard sell, telling someone that you can blow things up with your mind, or walk through walls, or possess the bodies of other people, and expecting to be accepted at face value. Here, at least, in the little office with its couches and quietly humming fluorescent lights, no one has to pretend that they aren't fantastic.

Maybe it's a romantic way to look at the situation, but Charlie has never shied away from being romantic before.

“That's a nice split lip you've got.” He raises an eyebrow, glancing over at her. Charlie grins, touching two fingers to it and nodding her head.

“I got hit with a coffee mug last night,” she laughs, stretching her arms over her head. “Our psychic bad guy flung it straight at me with his mind.”

“I can't tell if you really think that story sounds cool or not,” Danny rolls his eyes, flipping through channels. Charlie certainly doesn't think it sounds anything less than cool. He lands on a news station with some politician shaking the hand of Hurricane Man and gibbering thanks.

“He stopped another terrorist attack?” She asks, leaning forward to try and catch the details of the story. Despite the fact that all of them are in the SHA, Charlie seems to be the only who's actually in love with the idea of being a real life hero.

“Nah. Dam break,” Danny yawns, shuffling himself down into a little ball again, tugging his hoodie up. “And don't sound so excited about it. It's weird.”

“Don't be mad because you're boring.” She grumbles, leaning over to snag the remote from his loose fingers and turning the volume on the TV up.

There're other reports, but eventually, even Charlie's interest in procrastination wanes and she digs homework out of her bag to at least stare at and despair over.

Behind her, Danny's phone starts to chirp loudly in his pocket and he groans, sitting up once again to dig it out. Charlie knows the tune of an alert message well enough to already be turning to look at him, both eyebrows raised.

“What is it?” She asks, even as he pushes himself off the couch and stretches his arms out, swinging them several times before adjusting his hood to make sure it's properly in place, checking his mask next.

“Psychoroot was spotted, apparently.” He doesn't sound as worried as Charlie would be, if she were the only one on call when the villain they can't seem to catch shows up again.

Of course, there's no reason that Danny has to go alone since she's sitting right there with all of the gear she needs…

“No.” He answers before she even has a hand in her bag to reach for her mask. “If I take you along with me, Meg will be pissed.”

“You know, you shouldn't be so scared of Meg.” Charlie pouts, but Danny rolls his eyes at her, making his way over to the window rather than the door.

“Everyone is scared of Meg.” He pushes the window open with one hand, grabbing the top rung of the ladder that hangs out of the window on the back side of the building, swinging himself onto it. “Stay here. I'll send a blast if I need help.”

Charlie sighs but nods her head before he drops out of sight, climbing down the ladder.

It was probably intentional, Danny not telling here where Psychoroot was spotted. Unfortunately for him, it's difficult for any kind of electronic communication to stay hidden from Charlie.

She pulls her phone out with a hum, ghosting her finger over the black screen. Rather than the usual lock screen coming up, it's a long chain of binary code. Charlie blinks at it, focusing her attention on what she's looking for.

There's a slight hum from the phone, and it warms in her hand as the information processes. Picking up a message meant for someone else isn't hard, especially when she knows where it came from and where it's going.

The display of the phone returns to normal, a text message making it buzz a moment later. _'Psychoroot spotted on Campus Drive, headed toward greenhouse.'_

Well, that's easy enough to follow. Charlie grins, tucking her phone into her bag and pulling her mask out instead. She has an extra hoodie hanging off the back of the door, most of them do, and after zipping it up she swings herself out of the window as well, climbing down the ladder quickly.

* * * 

Piper sees Mechalass on the way home from her last class of the day, briefly. The route of her bus back to her apartment takes her past a fight going on outside of the greenhouse where someone has a boy in a black hoodie wrapped up in what appears to be a tree branch, bent around him like a vine, and Mechalass is picking herself up from a bush, shaking leaves out of her hair.

While Piper watches, the boy struggles until one of his hands is free, pressing it against the branch and squeezing his eyes shut, making the wood explode and release him in a bright flash of red light.

The bus turns the corner and Piper can't see any more of the fight, but she finds herself twisting a lock of hair around her finger a little nervously.

It's a little foolish, to hope nothing happens to Mechalass. She probably gets into scraps like this all the time and never seems that much worse for the wear.

Still, they're friends, as odd as their relationship is, and the last thing Piper would want is for her to get hurt by a tree or a boy making explosions.

* * * 

She doesn't see Mechalass for a few days, but the next time she walks into Gimme it's just after 12:30 at night, and she has a few stray leaves stuck in her hair.

Piper bites her lower lip before turning to make her coffee, trying not to smile at the sight she makes. Her hair is fairly thin it seems, but tied on top of her head it's managed to pick up a few stray fall leaves, a match to the one clinging to her sleeve that she plucks off with a small frown.

“Did'ja miss me?” Mecha wastes no time in asking, looking around the empty coffee shop before hopping up on the counter to sit, kicking her feet lightly. There's a tear in her jeans, blood leaking through them from a scrape that Piper can't quite see because of her clothes.

“I wouldn't go that far,” Piper rolls her eyes, setting the coffee down and leaning on the other side of the counter. It's not as if it would be a lie to say, even if she's not willing to admit it. Mecha just smiles, and Piper wonders for a moment what that smile might look like if she weren't wearing the mask.

“Ah, you messed my order up!” She holds the cup out dramatically, a pout taking over her lips. Her eyes are wide like she's trying to tempt herself into crying. Piper takes the cup slowly, carefully removing the lid and staring at the foam of whipped cream on the top.

“What's wrong with it?” She asks though she's fairly sure she remembered everything. It's not as if it's a very complex order, to begin with.

“I wanted your number, too.” Mecha grins when Piper looks back up like she's hit upon something brilliant.

Piper is tempted to turn and dump the coffee, just to teach her a lesson.

She doesn't. Instead, she puts the lid back on carefully and shakes her head. “I don't give that to strangers.”

“I'm _hardly_ strange at all.” Mecha presses a hand to her chest, looking affronted. It makes Piper laugh, the way she looks so utterly serious. “I'm a hero. You can trust me with information like that.”

“Couldn't you just figure it out?” Piper tilts her head, leaning on her side of the counter and setting the coffee down once again, nudging it toward Mecha. “From my phone, right?”

“I could.” Mecha confirms, rubbing the back of her neck. Her smile is still wide and bright, but there's a flush working up from the back of her neck and Piper finds herself tempted to just give her the number anyway for looking so cute about it. “It's not the same though. I want it if you want me to have it. A hero doesn't _steal_.”

“Of course,” Piper agrees, though she chuckles slightly as she does. Mecha picks her coffee up now, looking like she's considering fleeing the shop before the situation gets worse. Piper hums, reaching out and grabbing Mecha's wrist gently, flipping her hand so her palm is up and using her pen to write her number on the warm skin of her palm. “Take good care of it, then.”

Mecha's eyes are wide and glittering like a kid on Christmas morning as she takes her hand and stuffs it into her pocket. She bounces on the balls of her feet for just a moment like she's not sure what to do about it, before leaning across the counter and pecking a tiny kiss on Piper's cheek. “T- thanks!”

Clearly flustered, she nearly spills coffee on herself as she speeds out the door. She doesn't promise to call or text Piper just swoops out the door looking like she might catch fire at any moment.

Piper hopes she will, though, as she goes back to studying and stealing glances at her phone until her shift ends.

* * * 

Charlie is _almost_ asleep in grad skills once again when the professor clears his throat, turning to the board and writing the two most dreaded words in Charlie's life on it.

**Group Project**

He circles it as well, just to add insult to injury. Charlie sits up with a groan, dropping her hood back around her shoulders and trying to at least look a little more awake as the professor starts to explain. “I'm going to be teaming you up so you can develop a product proposal together that you'll pitch to the rest of the class.”

He pauses, turning to stare at the class, though Charlie feels like his eyes spend an extra moment resting on her in particular. “I do not want any prototypes.”

There's the sound of giggles being stifled around the room, along with assorted groans at the concept of being forced to work in a group. Charlie sinks lower in her seat, tapping her fingers on the surface of the desk and looking at her chipped nail polish, wondering if she should take the time to paint her previously blue nails a different color.

Technically, as a hero she's not supposed to do anything that could lead to her being identified in her day to day life, but Charlie has never asked if nail polish is allowed--meaning no one has ever told her that it _isn't_.

She'd rather keep it that way.

"Piper, you'll be working with Charlie."

The announcement almost makes Charlie bolt embarrassingly straight in her seat, resisting the urge to stuff her fist into her mouth or scream into her sleeve.

It would be the most exciting thing to happen to Charlie all week; the chance to spend time outside of class with the girl she has to admit at this point she has a crush on. Only, Charlie is only good at doing anything about that crush as Mechalass. Charlie Chiu has only kissed a handful of girls before, and she certainly doesn't know how to cross that bridge with a girl like Piper.

Mechalass, she thinks, would probably just steal a kiss and make some comment about how she'd keep it safe since she's a hero, or something else partially mortifying but also terribly charming. Piper would laugh and like her even more for it.

Charlie doesn't even realize she's daydreaming until Piper taps her knuckles on the plastic surface of the desk, looking down at Charlie with a smile. She has a beanie covering most of her curly red hair that has bear ears stitched to it, and it's this moment that Charlie notices her nose rounds off like a button. Even her efforts to greet her class partner properly get stuck in Charlie's throat.

Piper, of course, doesn't have that kind of trouble. "We should probably exchange numbers, I guess? I don't have a ton of meeting time since I work nights but ah, if you're up late you can always come hang out in Gates on my shift? It's usually pretty quiet."

"Oh," Charlie nods, digging in her bag for her phone with such ferocity that she almost knocks it to the floor when she pulls it out. Then she freezes, realizing that she already _has_ Piper's number in her phone. Because she gave it to Mechalass. Her mouth goes dry, and she sets her own phone down, reaching for Piper's instead. "S- sure. Let me put it in for you."

"Thanks." Piper smiles, looking down as Charlie opens the contacts screen. Charlie knows she can easily change it so Mechalass's number appears as something different, but she needs Piper to be looking at something else while she does that. She looks up, holding the phone carefully in both of her hands, smiling as brightly as she can manage.

"Have you and I met before?" She's treading dangerous ground here. It's not as if she does a Batman voice as Mechalass, but she's never been in such a precarious position with someone who might recognize it.

Worse, she's not sure that she would mind Piper figuring her out. Piper looks away from the phone, looking Charlie in the face instead with a soft hum from the back of her throat. Charlie recognizes the sound of her thinking from the few times she's been able to just hang around while Piper studies and she drinks coffee.

"I don't think so." She shakes her head after a moment, but she's still studying Charlie's face curiously. Charlie flushes, though she reminds herself quickly that it's what she wanted, since it gave her enought ime to change the things she needed to in Piper's phone without being noticed for it. She passes it back with a nervous smile, gripping the hem of her sleeve and rubbing the fabric between two fingers.

"S- so you work in the coffee shop?" Her voice comes out so soft that Piper's brow scrunches together for a moment, trying to parse the words before she nods.

"Yeah. Graveyard shifts, mostly. I don't mind, though." She shifts her bag on her shoulder, eyes wandering over toward the door. "Anyway, text me and we can set up a time to meet and talk about the project."

She waves, and with that walks the rest of the way out of the room. Charlie bites her lip to muffle her own frustrated groan. She's doing worse at this than she thought she would.

* * * 

At first, Piper is skeptical of the girl she gets matched up with for her project. It's obvious that Charlie is shy; her text messages are always just tiny agreements,a nd she leaves Piper to do most of the planning and conversing. Piper is really giving her 'shy' out of the goodness of her heart, because if 'apathetic' is the reality of it, the two of them are going to have a problem.

It's just shy of 1am, and she's wiping down the pick up counter, hoping that Charlie will show up like she said and not make an excuse in two days about how she fell asleep. Piper's hopes aren't exactly high, so when the door chimes to signal an entry, she startles slightly at the fact that it _is_ Charlie.

She's wearing a soft looking gray hoodie that swallows almost her whole frame, her hands tucked into the sleeves. Piper realizes that she's taller than expected, though she slouches like she's trying to hide from her own height. Still, she looks at Piper and smiles, glancing around nervously at what must be the shocked expression on Piper's face. "I'm not late, am I?"

Piper glances at the clock behind the register before shaking her head. Charlie relaxes slightly, walking over and hopping on the freshly cleaned counter, setting her bag next to her hip and digging into it. "Okay. I wrote down a few ideas for proposals we could do..."

She flips her sketchbook open, and for a moment Piper is struck with a strange sense of deja vu. It's something in the way Charlie sits, despite her initial awkwardness she looks like she fits right in. She even gives Piper a more relaxed, genuine smile. "You don't mind if I sit up here, right?"

"It's fine." She shakes herself out of the weird stupor holding onto her, looking over Charlie's shoulder at the designs. "You'll just have to get down if anyone comes in."

 

No one does, and Charlie has some good ideas for products they can make mock-ups of for class. The more she relaxes, the more Piper finds herself enjoying talking to her. Charlie is funny, though she looks surprised every time Piper laughs. Her phone, tucked in her pocket and until this point ignored, starts a series of high pitched beeps in her pocket. Charlie starts, digging it out and unlocking the screen, tilting it slightly away from Piper.

Her brow furrows slightly, snapping her notebook shut and stuffing her phone into her pocket once again before hopping off the counter with a smile that doesn't quite ring as true as the one on her face before. “Sorry! My brother needs a ride.”

“This late?” Piper asks, tilting her head slightly. Charlie nods before shrugging her shoulders.

“He's always getting into trouble.” She explains, shrugging her backpack onto her shoulder again. “We can work on this more another night? Sorry, I have to run.”

With that, she jogs out, leaving the bell jingling softly behind the closing door.

Piper frowns slightly to herself, twisting a lock of hair around her finger curiously. It's not hard to tell that the excuse was a lie, but Piper is more curious about why she'd feel the need to lie in the first place.

* * * 

If Charlie had any hope that working on a project with Piper would do anything to get rid of her crush, it's quickly dashed.

Spending actual time with Piper does nothing but make it worse, and even though she keeps having to run off and stop stupid threats in the middle of their meetings, they're making steady progress on the project as well.

The problem, of course, is that Piper doesn't have any particular feelings for Charlie other than friendship. She still flirts with Mechalass, and Charlie can't help but worry that she _is_ making progress with the girl that she likes, just using the wrong identity.

The other problem, at the moment at least, is that she's over two hours late to when she's supposed to be meeting Piper, and there's a cut on her eyebrow that for whatever reason won't stop bleeding and she keeps having to wipe it off on her sleeve. It's not her fault, of course, that she's spent hours chasing after some pair of annoyingly agile twins who stole from one of the college loan offices.

Charlie knows that Gates is closing soon, and she also has her mask stuffed hastily into her pocket. For all intents and purposes, she's really still in her Mechalass uniform—not that it's easy to tell it apart from her regular clothes.

Still, not showing up at all would make her feel terrible, and she shows up just as Piper is locking the door behind her. She has one hand tucked into her pocket, twisting the key sharply in the lock. She looks surprised to see Charlie, blinking and yawning. “You're sorta late for studying.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Charlie rubs at the back of her neck, wondering if maybe she shouldn't be here at all. “I got um, called into work. I couldn't really text or anything.”

She hesitates, bouncing on her feet, excess adrenaline making it impossible to stand still. “I can walk you home, though. It's late.”

“Alright,” Piper doesn't sound uneasy about agreeing, and for a moment Charlie wonders if it's too cheesy to offer to carry her bag as well.

She's still mulling the offer over when there's the dim thud of shoes on the pavement behind the two of them. Charlie turns, more out of an ingrained sense of caution than actual concern, but freezes when she catches sight of the three men standing on the other side of the street and watching the two of them. All three have bright red masks covering their eyes, and Charlie feels more exposed than she expects.

Piper stops, turning around to ask what Charlie is doing before freezing, her mouth open slightly. The man in the front of the group walks forward until he's standing in the middle of the street, underneath the light of one of the lamps. He grins, revealing sharp teeth, and Charlie's stomach sinks. “Don't run, ladies.”

Charlie is tensed like a wire ready to snap, but it's not for the purpose of running away. She recognizes them—not as individuals, but as a group. Black clothes and red masks usually means the Night Crew. They're responsible for a lot of petty robberies and muggings just like this, and Charlie has no intent of being a victim to one of them.

She doesn't even think about not being in uniform, about revealing her face to criminals. “We're just trying to get home.”

“Well, you can go right after this,” the man's grin only stretches wider and more sinister, and Charlie takes a step to put herself between the group of them and Piper.

The light grip of Piper's hand on her sleeve makes Charlie hesitate for a moment. It reminds her, though, why it's important to do things like this. Why she wants to be a hero in the first place.

She grips her phone in her pocket, and when the man steps forward again she focuses her attention on gathering the energy from the battery into her hand. It kills her phone, but at the moment Charlie doesn't really need it for anything else.

Gently, she shakes her arm free from Piper's scared grip, gathering the now crackling ball of energy in her palm and lifting it out of her pocket. Her free hand reaches back, twining her fingers through Piper's. “Back off.”

The two man behind the leader laugh and Charlie does her best ignore that. She takes a breath before leaning forward and throwing it. It soars silently through the air before striking the man in the front in the center of his chest. His body jerks for a moment, and rather than watch, Charlie turns and pulls Piper along by the hand, dragging her down the street while the three of them scramble.

Charlie doesn't stop until they're several blocks away, realizing that they aren't being followed. She stops, laughing unevenly, squeezing Piper's hand without a thought. “S- sorry about that.”

Piper stops as well, her eyes wide as she looks at Charlie. “Are you—?”

“I'm in the SHA, yeah. Um, don't tell anybody?” She huffs another uncertain laugh but Piper shakes her head.

“Mechalass.” Piper finishes her own question and Charlie jerks slightly in surprise.

“Y- yeah. I am,” she slowly untangles her fingers from Piper's. “I swear I wasn't being weird about it, we're just really not supposed to tell people anything.”

“But you're the mysterious hero who drinks too much coffee and flirts with me.” Rather than look shocked or angry, there's a sly smile creeping up on her face. Charlie is glad they're standing in the dark now because she's sure her face is totally red.

“That would be me, yeah.” She laughs softly this time, yelping in surprise when Piper grabs the strings of her hoodie, hauling her down and kissing her.

Charlie smiles slowly, sliding her fingers through Piper's hair and kissing her in return. The curls of it are soft between her fingers.

They stay like that for a long moment, and when Piper pulls back she's still grinning, the corners of her eyes wrinkling at the corners. “Okay. Now you can walk me home, but no more coffee tonight.

“S- sure.” Charlie laughs, letting herself be dragged along behind, grinning just as wide.


End file.
